Ex councillor blasts state of roads in Barnoldswick

Will Cook

A former Barnoldswick councillor has blasted the county council for carrying out roadworks where they are not needed.

Harry Purcell said resurfacing work which has taken place in Gisburn Road was in an area where there was nothing wrong, adding that potholes further up the same road closer to the town centre have not been filled in.

I’ve never seen roads in such a terrible condition

Harry Purcell

Mr Purcell said: “The finish is worse now than it was before, I’ve never seen such a bad job in all my life.

“They would’ve been better filling the potholes near Mario’s and the zebra crossing in stead.

“I’ve never seen roads in such a terrible condition. There are potholes in Bolland Street and in Lower North Avenue as well which need sorting.

“They could cause an injury or tear a tyre.

“All of them have been reported, some of them twice or three times, but nothing has been done. Are councillors walking around with their eyes closed?”

Responding, County Coun. John Fillis, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “The floods which hit Lancashire at the end of last year caused millions of pounds worth of damage to our highway infrastructure, including road surfaces, and our engineers are still very busy repairing the worst of the damage to ensure safety.

“We’re doing our best at the moment to deal with all the problems caused by the floods, and things will improve as we get on top of all the repairs which are needed. We will shortly begin a full programme of maintenance, which will ensure our roads are in better condition by the autumn.”

And a county council spokesman added: “We’ve been carrying out work on Gisburn Road to fix a particular problem affecting the road surface and stop it from spreading further.

“This type of issue can rapidly deteriorate along the centre of the road, which would damage both lanes, requiring far more work and disruption to local people. Dealing with this in a preventative manner significantly reduces the potential repair time and costs.

“We’re aware of concerns about other parts of Gisburn Road.

“These were not included in this work, as they’re further along the road. We will monitor its condition and carry out any repairs which may be needed for safety reasons.